The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a set of regional analyses of climate trends and projections in January of 2013 in support of the pending revision of the U.S. National Climate Assessment. These reports are valuable in that they use a consistent format for all of the regions in the continental U.S., making it easy to compare trends and projections between regions. The reports also employ consistent methods to identify and depict statistically significant trends, again making it easy to make comparisons between regions.
Click on the image to the left to go to the NOAA web site and access the regional trends and projections.
Technical Reports
2009 Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
This is a rather long 191-page report on climate change impacts to various sectors. There is a chapter devoted to Agriculture (p. 71) that provides useful information to forest landowners. There are also chapters on climate impacts BY REGIONS of the U.S.
Changing climate, changing forests: The impacts of climate change on forests of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada
This report has useful information about climate impacts on Northeastern U.S. Forests.
Books
Forest Adaptation Resources: Climate Change Tools and Approaches for Land Managers, 2nd Edition
The U.S. Forest Service, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science released a 2nd edition of their Forest Adaptation Resources document in 2016, which features a revised “menu” of adaptation strategies and additional chapters on evaluating vulnerability assessments and working in urban forests. Available online at: https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/52760
Abstract: Forests across the United States are expected to undergo numerous changes in response to the changing climate. This second edition of the Forest Adaptation Resources provides a collection of resources designed to help forest managers incorporate climate change considerations into management and devise adaptation tactics. It was developed as part of the Climate Change Response Framework and reflects the expertise, creativity, and feedback of dozens of direct contributors and hundreds of users of the first edition over the last several years. Six interrelated chapters include: (1) a description of the overarching Climate Change Response Framework, which generated these resources; (2) a brief guide to help forest managers judge or initiate vulnerability assessments; (3) a “menu” of adaptation strategies and approaches that are directly relevant to forests of the Northeast and upper Midwest; (4) a second menu of adaptation strategies and approaches oriented to urban forests; (5) a workbook process with step-by-step instructions to assist land managers in developing on-theground climate adaptation tactics that address their management objectives; and (6) five real-world examples of how these resources have been used to develop adaptation tactics. The ideas, tools, and resources presented in the different chapters are intended to inform and support existing decisionmaking processes of multiple organizations with diverse management goals.
Coordinated Website
There are also updates to the www.AdaptationWorkbook.org website. The site allows users to go through the Workbook in an interactive, self-guided process and generate a customized adaptation plan.
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Management Options: A Guide for Natural Resource Managers in Southern Forest Ecosystems
New guide for natural resource managers in southern forest ecosystems
U.S. Forest Service scientists recently published a new comprehensive guide to help natural resource managers in the South develop options for managing southern forest ecosystems in the face of climate change. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Management Options: A Guide for Natural Resource Managers in Southern Forest Ecosystems culminates a multi-year initiative by Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists and collaborators from the National Forest System, universities, and other federal agencies.
Co-edited by SRS scientists Jim Vose (Project leader, Center for Integrated Forest Science) and Kier Klepzig (Assistant Station Director for Research), the new 492-page guide represents an interdisciplinary approach to developing science-based management options to reduce threats to southern forest ecosystems under future climates and changes in disturbance regimes and maintain or enhance the values they provide.
Topics in the publication focus on potential climate change impacts on wildfire, insects, diseases and invasives, and how these in turn could affect important values of southern forests such as timber and fiber, water quality and quantity, species and habitats, and recreation. Additional topics include forest carbon sequestration, future vulnerability to biological threats, and migration of native tree populations due to climate change.
“This book resulted from bringing together science experts and land managers from a range of disciplines and areas of the South and combining their expertise in science, modeling, and on-the-ground experience to develop options for managers faced with climate change,” says Vose. “By linking present practice with future projections and the best available science, we hope to provide a broader range of options for managing southern forests and protecting their values in the future.”
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Management Options is available for purchase from CRC Press at http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466572751.
Manomet’s One-page Summary of this book
click here to download 1-page summary
Climate & Forestry Web Links
Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options
This site includes a literature explorer that supports searching the scientific literature on climate change and forestry by region or by factors such as invasive species, forest health and water resources.
Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center
The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center provides both assessment of existing threats to eastern forests and extensive future climate forecasting.
Natural Resources Canada Climate Change Page
The NRC climate change page includes links to information on several issues associated with climate change and forests in Canada including carbon accounting, impacts, mitigation and adaptation.